Keith to take first ever trip abroad after winning two employee of the year awards

A BUS depot worker from Swanage is planning his first ever holiday abroad – after beating hundreds of colleagues to be named employee of the year at two companies.

Dedicated Keith Smith, who works at Swanage’s morebus depot scooped employee of the year from morebus and from parent company, Go South Coast.

Now Keith, who has worked at the depot for more than a decade, is planning his first ever foreign trip after winning £3,000 worth of vouchers and two weeks extra holiday from company bosses.

“I’ve never been abroad before in my life,” said the 59-year-old. “I’m thinking of going on a cruise but I’m still waiting for my passport to come through at the moment.”

Keith, a father-of-two, said he couldn’t believe when he was called up for both awards.

“On the night there were a couple of hundred people there. They gave me the morebus more hero award and I thought that was it. But then they called out my name again for the employee of the year, I couldn’t believe it.”

Andrew Wickham, managing director of parent company Go South Coast, presented Keith with the award.

Mr Wickham said: “Keith’s dedication and willingness to assist those around him is everything we look for in our team members, and fundamental to the ongoing success of our engineering depot in Swanage. He is highly regarded by colleagues and his commitment and enthusiasm is an inspiration to us all.”

The managing director said Keith thoroughly deserved recognition for his efforts.

He added: “I congratulate him on his success, both within morebus and in winning the overall employee of the year award for the entire region. I wish him every success for the year ahead.”